President Bush established the
Spectrum Policy Initiative in May 2003 to promote the
development and implementation of a United States spectrum
policy for the 21st century that will foster economic
growth; promote our national and homeland security;
maintain U.S. global leadership in communications technology;
and satisfy other vital U.S. needs in areas such as
public safety, scientific research, federal transportation
infrastructure, and law enforcement. As directed by
the President, the Department of Commerce formed a
multi-agency advisory Task Force of Assistant Secretaries
from agencies selected by the President under the leadership
of the Deputy Secretary of Commerce and sought the
views of the private sector via an outreach effort,
involving open, public meetings. The Secretary of Commerce
provided two reports in June 2004, under the title
Spectrum Policy for the 21st Century - The Presidents
Spectrum Policy Initiative (Report 1 & 2), which
contained the 24 recommendations. The President directed
the federal agencies, in a November 30, 2004 Executive
Memorandum to plan the implementation of the 24 recommendations
contained in the Reports.

Point of Contact: Richard
Orsulak, (202) 482-9139

Federal Wireless Users' Forum Steering Committee

The Emergency Planning & Public
Safety Division (EPPSD) Co-Chairs and is a Steering
Committee member of the Federal Wireless
Users' Forum (FWUF). FWUF represents Federal
Government wireless telecommunications users. Membership
is open to all Federal Government employees who are
current or potential wireless telecommunications users. The
FWUF holds two workshops a year to educate and inform
members of current and emerging telecommunications
technologies and policies. The steering committee
focuses on organizing the workshops. You can
visit FWUF's homepage at www.fwuf.gov. In
2005, the FWUF became an outreach division of the Federal
Partnership for Interoperable Communications (FPIC)
an effort under the Wireless Management Office of the
Department of Homeland Security.

Point of Contact: Thomas Hardy, (202)
482-1948

All Hazard Warning Projects

The EPPSD is a member and participates in both the
All Hazard Warning Systems Inter-Agency Working Group
(AHWS-IAWG) and the Partnership
for Public Warning (PPW). The AHWS-IAWG is
an informal working group to expand the Weather Radio
coverage to 100% of the continental United States. The
group also explores ways to disseminate hazard warnings
over telecommunications devices. EPPSD is
a board member of PPW. PPW brings
together representatives of all the many and diverse
stakeholders to work toward a resolution of national
standards, protocols and priorities that will assure
the right information is delivered in a timely manner
to people at risk from disaster so that they are enabled
to act knowledgeably to save lives, reduce losses and
speed recovery.

Point of Contact: Thomas Hardy,
(202) 482-1948

Wireless Priority Access

EPPSD is involved in Wireless Priority Access (WPA)
administered by the National
Communications System. WPA provides a means
for National Security and Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP)
telecommunications users to obtain priority access
to available wireless radio channels when necessary
to initiate emergency calls. NS/EP telecommunications
services are critical to the maintenance of a state
of readiness or the response to and management of any
event or crisis that causes or could cause harm to
the population, damage property, or threaten the security
of the United States.

Point of Contact:
Thomas Hardy, (202)
482-1948

800 MHz Realignment
- "The Nextel Proposal"

On November 21, 2001, Nextel
Communications Inc. submitted to the FCC a "White Paper" in
which it proposed a solution to interference caused
by at least one commercial mobile radio service operator
to public safety, business, industrial/land transportation
and specialized mobile radio systems users of the 800
MHZ band below 860 MHZ. The Nextel proposal
would affect the 700 MHZ, 800 MHZ, and 900 MHZ frequencies
by organizing public safety , private, and commercial
mobile radio service frequencies into adjacent blocks,
reducing the fragmentation of spectrum, particularly
in the 800 MHZ band. Public safety would be
assigned channels 1-400 (806.125 - 815.9875 MHZ paired
with 851.0125-860.9875 MHZ), and commercial digital
wireless services would be assigned channels 401-720
(816.0125-822.5875 paired with 861.0125-867.5875 MHZ). The
FCC is expected to issue a proceeding regarding the
proposal submitted by Nextel. NTIA/EPPSD will
review the FCC proceeding when released and submit
comments if appropriate.

Intelligent Transportation Society of America
(ITSA), Public Safety Advisory Group

The EPPSD is serving as a government representative
on the ITSA
Public Safety Advisory Group. This group
reports directly to the Secretary of Transportation
with recommendations on how Intelligent Transportation
Systems such as Dedicated Short Range Communications
(DSRC), Telematics, Collision Avoidance Systems, and
Automatic Vehicle Location Systems, can be used by
public safety organizations. This is a forward-thinking
group of public safety and transportation experts that
are studying all of the potential benefits that this
new and rapidly expanding technology can bring to public
safety.

Point of Contact: Charles Hoffman,
(202) 482-3456

Project Mobility for Emergency and Safety
Applications (Project MESA)

Project MESA is a partnership
between the European Telecommunications Standards Institute
(ETSI) and the Telecommunications Industry Association
(TIA), established in May 2000. The goal is to develop
advanced mobile broadband technical specifications
that can be used to support the communications requirements
of the Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR)
community. Project MESA supports the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) in its worldwide effort
to harmonize PPDR communications as documented in ITU-R
Report M.2033. Project
MESA membership comprises over 100 representatives
from national public safety organizations, communications
equipment users research organizations, and the telecommunications
industry; and EPPSD represents NTIA. Members
meet every six months (alternating between European
and North American venues) to coordinate program activities
and to review project documents for approval. Between
these meetings, members rely primarily on email to
coordinate specification development and other activities.

Points of Contact: Charles
Hoffman, (202) 482-3456

PUBLIC
SAFETY SUPPORT

Federal to State and Local Interoperability
Networks

The NTIA Emergency Planning & Public Safety
Division (EPPSD) remains involved in tracking the status
of existing State and local public safety communications
networks and those being planned or under development. With
the renewed focus on a nationwide public safety communications
interoperability network, the EPPSD is monitoring public
safety efforts to bridge the communications gap between
all public safety agencies. With over five different
diverse bands of radio spectrum used by public safety
agencies, there exists a need to bridge all users together. The
utilization of dispatch console-to-console patching,
use of fixed, mobile and portable audio switching solutions
and the exchange of radios has moved over to emerging
Voice Over Internet Protocol network based solutions. Software
Defined Radios are entering the market that offer multiple
algorithms in a single package and the Cognitive Radio
is under development and will someday replace outdated
interoperability methods and will expand available
modes to all public safety users. In addition, the
EPPSD has identified federal radio spectrum that is
available to public safety agencies for short duration
interoperability on a limited basis to non-federal
agencies that have Federal sponsors.

Point of Contact: Charles
Hoffman, (202) 482-3456

Federal to Federal Interoperability

EPPSD continues to follow ongoing Federal initiatives
involving Federal to Federal, interoperability and
network consolidation. EPPSD works closely with the Department
of Homeland Security, Project
SAFECOM and the Federal Partnership for Interoperable
Communications (FPIC) a continuation of previous initiatives
of the Federal Law Enforcement Wireless Users Group
(FLEWUG). SAFECOM recently assumed the leading role
of continued efforts of the former Public
Safety Wireless Network (PSWN) and the NTIA Public
Safety Division continues to provide support for all
initiatives.

Point of Contact:
Richard Orsulak, (202)
482-9139

TECHNICAL
SUPPORT

SAFECOM Maritime Integrated Program Team
(IPT)

NTIA works closely with SAFECOM as
a technical advisor on federal spectrum matters. SAFECOM
is a federal initiative operating on behalf of all
local, state, and federal public safety agencies. The
Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury
are jointly leading the PSWN Program's efforts to plan
and foster interoperability among public safety wireless
networks.

A major part of the PSWN program focuses on completing
a number of diverse case studies designed to better
understand how public safety agencies plan, fund, procure,
install, operate, and maintain their private wireless
communications systems.

Point of Contact: Marshall
Ross, (202) 482-1222

Project 25/TIA 102 Standards Initiative

EPPSD has been involved in the APCO Project
25 initiative since it’s inception in 1990
and continues to follow the ongoing efforts to finalize
the process of establishing a non-proprietary standard. EPPSD
works closely with all Federal users in the identification
of user needs. These efforts, a partnership
with users and industry will eventually open the
market to competition and the establishment of a
set of standards that all manufacturers can build
to.

EPPSD is involved in policy matters concerning location-based
services, as it relates to the Federal
Communications Commission's (FCC)Enhanced
911 (E911) regulations. The FCC codified
E911 rules concerning Automatic Number and Location
Identification so that the caller of a wireless 911
call can be located. EPPSD has worked with the FCC
and industry on the issue of E911 deployment and continues
to monitor various ancillary issues stemming from the
E911 regulations.

Point of Contact: Thomas Hardy,
(202) 482-1948

National Public Safety Telecommunications
Council (NPSTC)

The National
Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) is a federation
of associations representing public safety telecommunications.
The purpose of NPSTC is to follow up on the recommendations
of the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee (PSWAC).
In addition, NPSTC acts as a resource and advocate
for public safety telecommunications issues. The EpPSD
is a member of the NPSTC Executive Council, providing
Federal regulatory guidance while insuring the Federal
Government's public safety related needs are represented.
The EPPSD is also a member of the Technolgy, Interoperability,
and Spectrum sub-committees.

Point of Contact: Charles
Hoffman, (202) 482-3456

Association of Public Safety Communications
Officials (APCO) International

APCO International is an association of communications professionals that
provides leadership; influences public safety communications
decisions of government and industry; promotes professional
development; and, fosters the development and use of
technology for the benefit of the public. The EPPSD
is an active member of APCO and represents the Federal
Government's interests in areas of frequency management
and coordination, and interoperability standards and
methodologies.